


Hold On Tight

by Sonderling



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Ending, Canon Universe, Complete, Domestic, Domestic Reylo, F/M, One Shot, Post TROS, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Pregnancy, Redeemed Ben Solo, Reylo - Freeform, Reylo Baby, Soft Ben Solo, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21991126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonderling/pseuds/Sonderling
Summary: Ben and Rey are gonna be alright.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 112





	Hold On Tight

**Author's Note:**

> I was planning this one even before the movie came out. I just wanted to see these two have a family, even though I'm sure realistically it would be very hard for them.

After the war, the Galaxy was slowly explored by young people trying to figure out a peace they had never themselves known. Most were reluctant to talk about the lives they had lived before. Locals figured out that these young newcomers didn't like questions about where they had come from, preferring a future full of unknowns to a painful past. 

Two such young people went by Ben and Rey. Though they made no attempt to hide that they were partners, they shared no family name. To everyone they met on their new homeworld, they were just Ben and Rey, polite, if very withdrawn. Like everyone else their age, they had been heavily involved in the war, and like everyone else who had suffered in the war, refused to talk about their experiences. 

They had a small, self-sufficient farmstead, far enough away from the town they had settled near so that no one was tempted to pry. Anyone who was so tempted quickly came up against a frightfully high tech surveillance system. No one ever pried twice. 

It had not been easy for Ben and Rey to figure out their new lives. What should have been the most natural thing in the world, took a great deal of thought and effort. Over time, Ben and Rey unearthed in each other pain that they themselves had been unaware of. On many occasions, they both wondered privately if they would be able to solve all the problems they had, or if ending a galaxy-wide war had been easier than maintaining a healthy partnership. 

Matters were only complicated further when in their second year, Rey discovered she was pregnant. Relationship dynamics aside, there was one thing they almost always agreed on. In the blink of an eye, Rey found herself confronting long-buried fears and trauma. Leia had appeared to the young pair not long after their discovery. Her enthusiasm was contagious and for a while, Ben was able to hold Rey's hand and see the old sparkle in her eyes, the sparkle that had first pierced his heart. But in the days after Leia's visit, Rey once again became withdrawn, her eyes dull and lips quivering with fears she couldn't speak. On Jakku, motherhood was a death sentence. Perhaps not right away, but it came without mercy. At night Rey would lie awake, her mind spinning with questions of how to be a good mother when even she didn't know what that looked like. For his part, Ben was concerned, willingly putting aside trying to figure out their relationship to help Rey feel secure in her new role. But as time went on, she became more and more withdrawn. His excitement burned away and by the time Rey's time was complete and she seemed almost like a stranger. It felt that the beautiful, stubborn woman he was learning to love had been replaced by someone else entirely. Some days it was only Ben's bone-deep loyalty that kept him moving forward. As often as Rey silently cried herself to sleep, Ben lay awake clenching his fists out of determination to not be like his father, to keep his feet on the ground, to stay. Other nights he caught himself staring up at unfamiliar stars, wondering what other worlds might be out there. He admitted to his mother that he had a newfound sympathy for his father. Leia could only sit and stare and her hands carefully folded in her lap. Even beyond death, Han's abandonment still hurt.

One day in spring, Rey and Ben left their homestead and came home well after dark with a tiny, black-haired baby wrapped up tight between them. For a few blissful days, they were able to ignore all the fears that had been churning through their heads for months. They fell into simple rolls of Rey feeding the baby and sleeping, and Ben feeding Rey and sleeping. 

Of course, a new person isn't so accommodating for long, and a farm cannot go long without being tended to and before long, nights had grown very short indeed. Rey wondered if they would ever get back the good things they'd had before, or if their little stranger would just eat up all the love she and Ben had to offer. Perhaps that would be enough for them. Maybe they could learn to love each other by loving their tiny little baby. 

Even though she only slept for very short increments, Rey managed to sleep deeply. In a matter of weeks, she had learned what hungry cries sounded like and barely even woke up herself to feed the baby. So it was a shock one night when she heard an entirely new cry coming from the little bassinet under the window. It sounded like a baby in pain. Her baby. But even before she could compel her exhausted bones out of bed, Ben had jumped out of bed and scooped up their little girl in his giant hands. Rey could see the little figure thrashing about, as though she was being swallowed up by a monster. Ben folded her against his chest, resting her ear against his heart. Her screaming quickly faded to hiccups. But Ben still looked absolutely terrified. Rey approached slowly, gently reaching up to rest her hand on his shoulder. 

"Was it just a nightmare?" She breathed, softly. 

Ben's eyes darted to hers, his lips pressed in a thin line. He delicately wiped a tear away from his daughter's eye with a calloused thumb as big as her cheek. He let out a rattling sigh.

"Sometimes it's not just a nightmare." He said, deep voice just a whisper. Rey saw past the fear in his eyes and saw the depth of love he felt for her and their daughter. 

Rey wrapped her arms around Ben’s broad chest and held her little family tight. Perhaps this was enough. Perhaps they could all hold onto each other tight enough that nothing could hurt them ever again. Rey knew that she held everything she needed, and knew beyond doubt that though the love she and Ben had shared would never be the same, it would only grow and deepen.


End file.
